Spool and process of producing same.



No. 697,408. Patented Apr. 8, I902.

. E. HUBBARD.

SPOOL AND PROCESS OF PRODUCING SAME.

(Application filed Aug. 14, 1901.]

(No Model.

UNITED STATES PATENT CEETCE.

EBER HUBBARD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPOOL AND PROCESSOF PRODUCING SAME.

SPECIFLGATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 697,408, dated April 8,1902.

- Application filed August 14, 1901. Serial No. 71,981. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EBER HUBBARD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Spools and Processes ofProducing the Same, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, formin'ga part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a spool which is madesubstantially of fibrous pulp, which can be produced cheaply and willhave sufficient strength and hardness to endure the process of windingon it the thread which it is to carry as tightly as such thread shouldbe wound, and having also sufficient stubbornness of texture,particularly at the center, to adaptit to be held firmly and securelyand centered accurately by the device on which it is necessary that itshould be mounted in order to receive the rotary motion necessary forwinding the thread upon it.

All attempts at producing from fibrous pulp the large spools upon whichthe thread is wound for manufacturers use have been unsuccessful,because of the difficulty experienced in preventing the molding of aspool from pulp of sufficient and sufficiently uniform density andtenacity to prevent it, on the one hand, from being crushed or distortedby the tension of the thread wound about it,

and on the other hand being ruptured by the longitudinal strain and thetorsional strain to which it is subjected in such winding.

The great difficulty in the way of molding a spool of fibrous pulp ofsufficiently uniform density arises from the great difference in theradial depth of the pulp at the barrel and at the heads, respectively,of the spool, such difference tending to prevent the full drainage ofthe water from the pulp at the two parts, differing so greatly inthickness or depth of the two parts to be drained. The difficulty in theway of producing a satisfactory spool from fibrous pulp arises from itslack of tenacity longitudinallyaud the necessity for reinforcing. it insome manner to increase such tenacity. This has usually been attemptedby providing it with some sort of a core of other material than themolded pulp, and herein the difficulty experienced arises in securelycombining such core with the pulp, so as to produce athoroughly-coherent structure and at the same time one which can bepr'oduccd inexpensively.

I have overcome both the difliculties above indicated by the process ofmanufacturing a fibrous pulp spool of the form and structure hereinafterdescribed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an axial section of my improved spool. Fig.2 is an end elevation of the spool-body of fibrous pulp Without thereinforcing wooden core. I Fig. 3is a similar end elevation, showing oneof the wooden strips which is to constitute the starshaped core in theposition in which it is ready to be forced home into the recess providedfor it in the molded fiber-body. Fig. 4 is a similar end elevationshowing all the five wooden strips which together constitute thereinforcing wooden core in position ready to be forced home, but not yetforced into final position. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the completespool, showing the wooden strips forced home into the recesses providedfor them in the molded body of the spool. 6 is a perspective viewrepresenting the manner of forcing the strips which constitute thewooden core radially outward into full seating and final position in therecesses formed for them in the molded pulp-body, and showing themandrel used for that purpose introduced and ready to be forced throughthe axialaperture of the spool to crowd the strips into position.

A represents the fibrous pulp-body of the spool,which is molded with astar-shaped axial aperture A. (See Fig. 2.) This star-shaped apertureaffords, as will be seen, a very large area for drainage of the waterout of the pulp as it is compressed in the mold provided for thatpurpose, with the result that the central portion of the spool when themolding of the same is complete is as thoroughly hard and compact andtenacious as the outer surface. This result could not be obtained if thespool were made merely with a cylindrical aperture, for, as is wellunderstood by those accustomed to operating with fibrous pulp in molds,the fiber will be laidmost compactly at the surfaces to which the freestdrainage of water is provided, and wherever there is insufficientsurface for drainage there the pulp will remain moist and will becomespongy whenthe article is dried to hardness. When the spool body offibrous pulp has been molded in the form indicated in Fig. 2, it isdried to hardness, and the star-shaped cavity is first filled with glue,and the glue is then allowed to drain from it, leaving all the surfacesof said cavity coated with glue. If the wooden reinforce or core whichis to occupy the star-shaped cavity and completely fill it, makingjunction with all its surfaces, were now introduced endwise into suchcavity, the glue would be completely scraped from the surfaces and noadequatejunction or union by adhesion would occur between the pulp-bodyand the wooden core. I avoid thus scraping the glue from the surface towhich adhesion is desired bymakingthe wooden core,consisting of separatestrips, each adapted to enter one of the wedge-shaped recesses a' a ofthe starshaped total recess A, and each of these wedge-shaped strips Bis adapted to be entered longitudinally through the open center of thespool without necessarily touching the surface of the star-shaped cavityat any point; but having thus been introduced longitudinally it may bemoved out radially edgewise into one of the wedge-shaped recesses a, andin such movement its lateral surfaces, which are to be joined by theglue to the surfaces of the recess, advance into contact with the lattersurfaces without any tendency to scrape the glue therefrom. Each of thewedge-shaped strips B B B 1- B is in turn introduced into thestar-shaped cavity and passed out edgewise into one of the recessesuntil all are assembled in the manner appearing in Fig. 4, in which itwill be noticed that the strips B B B, &c., are not yet forced out intoperfect contact with the surfaces of the recesses a. \Vhen they are allthus assembled, a cylindrical mandrel 0, having, preferably, aslightly-tapered end, is introduced within the group of strips B B B andforced longitudinally through the whole length of the spool, itsdiameter being such that as it passes through the center of the spool itforces all the strips out edgewise and crowds them tightly into therecesses, respectively, into which they are lodged, forcing out anyexcess of glue at the end and insuring a perfect union between thestrips and the pulp-body.

I claim- 1. The process of making a spool of fibrous pulp which consistsof the following steps, to wit: first, molding a pulp-body with an axialaperturehavingrecessesleadingradiallyfrom it along its entire length,wedge-shaped in transverse section of the spool; second, drying suchpulp-body to hardness; third, applying glue to the inner surfaces ofsuch wedgeshaped radial recesses; fourth, introducing endwise throughthe axial aperture and entering edgewise into the recesses respectivelywood strips or bars wedge-shaped in crosssection; fifth, passinglongitudinally through the axial aperture a cylindrical mandrel adaptedto crowd all the wedge-shaped strips edgewise simultaneously into theirrespective apertures.

2. A spool, comprising a body molded of fibrous pulp, with an axialaperture having recesses leading off radially from it alongits entirelength, and wooden strips glued in such recesses.

3. A spool of fibrous pulp, having through its entire length astar-shaped wooden core with an axial aperture.

4. A spool, having a star-shaped wooden core with an axial aperture, anda pulp-body in which such core is embedded, such core being composed ofstrips wedge-shaped in cross-section, arranged with their bases or wideredges encompassing the central aperture.

5. A spool-body of molded fibrous pulp, having an axial star-shapedaperture extending from end to end.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois,in the presence of two witnesses, this 9th day of August, A. D. 1001.

EBER HUBBARD.

In presence of- ADNA I'I. BOWEN, Jr., EDWARD T. WRAY.

